Customs: EU and China agreements to
strengthen cooperation on protecting Intellectual Property Rights and on
preventing illicit imports of chemical substances used for synthetic drug
production

Commissioner László Kovács,
responsible for Taxation and Customs, today signed an Action Plan with the
Chinese Ambassador Song to strengthen customs cooperation on protecting
Intellectual Property Rights. They also signed an agreement to enhance customs
co-operation in monitoring trade and preventing trafficking and the diversion of
drug precursors (chemicals that are essential to the illicit manufacture of
narcotic drugs).

Commissioner Kovács said: "Today's agreements constitute a step forward
in customs cooperation between the EU and China. Since my first visit to China,
there has been visible progress. China is aligning its customs legislation to
the EU rules, and has increased controls to protect Intellectual Property
Rights. Despite this, China remains a main source of fake goods or illicit drug
precursors entering the EU. While those problems need to be addressed through
more than just Customs intervention, I am convinced that today's cooperation
agreements will contribute towards providing better protection for EU
citizens."

Action Plan on Intellectual Property Rights

The protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is a major issue for EU
businesses, for whom counterfeit and pirated products pose a serious challenge.
China is by far the largest source (around 60%) of such products seized at the
EU borders.

IPR protection plays a central role in the success of the EU-China economic
and trade cooperation. Without the implementation of effective legislation to
combat counterfeiting, and effective control measures, the EU is not inclined to
grant extensive trade facilitation measures to Chinese business.

Today's agreement on an Action Plan for closer customs cooperation between
the EU and China on IPR enforcement gives a clear signal at political level of
the EU's willingness to support China's efforts in this area. Conversely, the
degree of commitment that China will devote to implementing the Action Plan will
be a measure of its determination to cooperate internationally in order to
achieve measurable reductions in counterfeit and piracy.

The Action Plan includes: setting up a working group to study the flow of
counterfeit goods between China and the EU; the exchange of information on IPR
risks; operational cooperation between key ports and airports; exchange of
officials; and developing partnerships with the private sector in China in order
to better target suspect shipments.

Agreement on drug precursors

"Drug precursors" are inoffensive chemical substances that are legally used
in a wide variety of consumer products, such as medicines, soaps, perfumes or
biocides. However, they also may be misused for the illicit manufacture of
narcotic drugs such as cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and methamphetamines. For
example, ephedrine is used in medicines for treating colds but could also be
used to produce methamphetamine.

On the basis of today's agreement, China and the EU will, for the first time,
establish a wide system of monitoring the legal movements of precursors. This
will help to prevent drug precursors from being diverted from legal trade and
misused in illicit drug manufacture in the Community.

Efficient customs control of drug precursors is of high importance: stopping
1 litre of ecstasy precursor avoids having to stop the sale of 10 000 ecstasy
pills on the street.

The EU continues to be reported as one of the world's main sources of
synthetic drugs, especially ecstasy and amphetamine. However, the precursor
chemicals required to make those drugs are not legally available in the European
Union and must be imported. China is considered the main source of illicit
imports of drug precursors into the EU.

Illicit imports into the EU of drug precursors are numerous. The EU's
seizures in 2006 for just two key precursors (for making ecstasy and
methamphetamine/amphetamine) are equivalent to the production of more than
€ 2,5 billion of drugs at today's street values (based on UN figures).

For further information on customs cooperation with China, fight against
counterfeiting and illicit traffic of drug precursors, see: